chapter 10 lg culture adn society for BA.docx

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chapter10lgcultureadnsocietyforBA

10.Language,culture,andsociety

1.Introduction

Youarewhatyousay.

（尔即尔所言---人如其言，语言是一个人的一面镜子）

Iammylanguage.UntilIcantakeprideinmylanguage,Icannottakeprideinmyself.

Languageisanintimatepartofsocialidentity.Itisuniversallyrecognizedthatlanguageisascientificsystemontheonehandandasocialactivityontheother.

WecanimagineacommonsituationofmultilingualcommunityinGuangzhou:

forexample,thisisatruestorywhenIwasinGuangzhou.Oneday,twoofmyCantonesefriendswerechattinginCantonese（dialect）.WhenIcameover,theyimmediatelyswitchtoMandarin（StandardChinese）totalktome.Afewminuteslater,aBlackAmerican,whoweknewintheEnglishcorner,passedby,thenallofus,ofcourse,switchtoEnglishtohaveatalktogether.Whatisinvolvedinthislinguisticphenomenon?

（dialect,standardlanguage,bilingualormultilingual,code-switching,allthesetermsareofsociallinguistics.ForexampleinthestoryImentionedjustnow,dialect,standardlanguage,diglossia,multilingualcommunities,code-switchingetc.）

Whatisinvolvedinthislinguisticphenomenon?

Dialect,standardlanguage,bilingualormultilingual,code-switching,allthesetermsareofsociallinguistics,inwhichwemainlyfocuslanguagevarieties:

forexampleinthestoryImentionedjustnow,dialect,standardlanguage,diglossia,multilingualcommunities,code-switchingetc

Languageisembedded（植根于）insocietyandculture.Thereforeinthischapter,twomainpartsarediscussed:

languageandculture;languageandsociety.

2.languageandculture

2.1someviewsbythefamouslinguists

⏹英国名俗学家马林诺夫斯基说过:

“语言深深的植根于社会生活之中，不了解语言的社会文化背景就无法理解这种语言的确切含义”。

因而，语言是一种社会现象。

⏹从人类学的角度看，人不仅是“社会人（socialman）”而且是文化人（culturalman），同样语言是一种社会现象，而且是一种文化现象。

languageisanessentialandimportantpartofagivencultureandthattheimpactofcultureuponagivenlanguageissomethingintrinsicandindispensable.Thereexistsacloserelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture.

⏹Languagecanbedefinedasthearbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunications.

⏹Culturecanbedefinedas“thetotalityofbeliefsandpracticesofasoceity”（EugeneNida）

⏹Adialecticalrelationship:

Everylanguageispartofaculture.Assuch,itcannotbutserveandreflectculturalneeds.

⏹Kramsch’theory:

⏹Languageistheprinciplemeanswherebyweconductoursociallives.

⏹Languageexpressesculturalreality，

⏹Languageembodiesculturalreality，

⏹Languagesymbolizesculturalreality

2.2Theevidenceofthecloserelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture

Whathashappenedinthefieldoflinguisticsoverthepastcenturycansubstantiatethecloserelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture.

1.Fromthebeginningofthe18thcentury,thelinguisticinquiryoflanguagehasbeencomparativeandhistoricalorstructuralandformalizedinnature.

2.Atthestartofthe20thcentury,thereissomechangeinthelinguisticinquiry,thatis,ananthropologicalorientationinthestudyoflanguagewasdevelopedbothinEnglandandinNorthAmerica.Thecharacteristicsofthisnewtradition’sstudyliesinitsstudyoflanguageinasocioculturalcontext.Amonglinguists,BronislawMalinowskiandJohnP.FirtharethepioneersofthismovementinEngland.FranzBoas,EdwardSapair,andBenjaminLeeWhorfaretherepresentativesinAmerica,whicharealsorelativelyindependenttraditionfromthelinguistsinEngland.Theyhavedonealotofimportantandcreativeworkintheresearchoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture,andtheyhavesetupaparadigm（somemodelsoflinguisticstudy）,whichhasledtodiversity（variousstudy）ofresearchofsametopicinthefollowingyears.

3.AnthropologicalstudyoflinguisticsinEnglandinthe1920s

1）TheanthropologistMalinowski:

themeaningofawordgreatlydependeduponitsoccurrenceinagivencontext,orrather,uponareallanguagesituationinlife.Eg..wood:

sometimesmeansacanoe,sometimesaspecialmeaningwhichcannotbeunderstoodbyoutsiderofthespeechcommunity.Thenheclaimedthat“Initsprimitiveuses,languagefunctionsasalinkinconcertedhumanactivity.Itisamodeofactionandnotaninstrumentofreflection.

2）.Firth,theleadingfigureofLondonSchool,developedthetheoryofContestofSituation.

3）Thefounderofsystemic-functionallinguistics,M.A.K.Hallliday.

WecanlearnHalliday’sthreecontributionstosociolinguisticsfromhisunderstandingoflanguagefromasociallysemioticorinteractionalperspective,hisfunctionalinterpretationofgrammarasaresourceformeaningpotential,andhislinguisticmodelinthestudyofliterature.

4.AnthropologicalstudyoflinguisticsinAmericainthe1920s

ThroughreconstructionofAmericanNativelanguages（AmericanIndian）,FranzBoas,EdwardSapair,andBenjaminLeeWhorfrecognizedthesignificanceofcultureinthestudyoflanguageuse.

5.Theveryinfluentialbutextremelycontroversialtheoryinthestudyoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture-----theSapair-WhorfHypothesis.P227.

6.Awell-knownlinguistandtranslationtheoristEugeneNida

Theroleoflanguagewithinacultureandtheinfluenceofthecultureonthemeaningsofthewordsandidiomsaresopervasivethatscarelyanytextcanbeadequatelyunderstoodwithoutcarefulconsiderationofitsculturalbackground.）（1999:

i）。

（（Nida）曾指出文化对词义，习语含义的影响如此普遍，以至于不考虑文化背景的情况下，很难对文本进行充分理解）

HeclaimedthatifwewanttodoagoodjobinCross-culturalcommunication,therearefivetypesofsub-cultureweshouldbefullyawareof:

1）ecological（生态的）culture;2）linguisticculture;3）religiousculture4）materialculture;5）socialculture（Nida,1964）.

2.2MoreabouttheSapair–Whorfhypothesis

TheretwoversionsoftheSapair–Whorfhypothesis.Thestrongversionofthetheoryreferstotheclaimtheoriginalhypothesissuggests,emphasizingthedecisiveroleoflanguageastheshaperofourthinkingpatterns.Thatis,theLinguisticDeterminism.TheweakversionofthishypothesisreferredtoasLinguisticRelativity,isamodifiedtypeofitsoriginaltheory,suggestingthatthereisacorrelation（相关性）betweenlanguage,cultureandthought,butthecross-culturaldifferencesthusproducedinourwaysofthinkingarerelative,ratherthancategorical（absolutecategory）.（产生不同思维方式的跨文化差异只是相对的，而不是绝对的）。

Thetheoryhasarousedalivelycontroversy.Someresearchersclaimtohavefoundreliableevidencetojustify（prove）itsvalidity（有效性），othersclaimtohaveobtainedenoughcounter-evidencetojeopardize（endanger,危及，使靠不住）itsfeasibility.

Twoexamples,thefirstformthestudyofHopilanguage,thesecondisfromDanilanguage.

Thesecondexamples,ie.thetwoAmericanscholarsBrentBerlinandPaulKayconductedalargecross-linguisticinvestigationofbasiccolorvocabulary.ThemoststrikingfindinginthisresearchisthatthecolorwordsystemsindifferentlanguagesarenotlikewhathasbeenassumedbytheSapair–Whorfhypothesis,whichclaimedthatthecolorwordsystemsindifferentlanguagesareculturallydeterminedandhenceabsolutelydifferentformoneanother.Contrarytothisassumption,BerlinandKayshowedthatdifferentlanguagemightwellundergoauniversalevolutionaryprocessofdevelopmentwhich,inturn,madethebasiccolorsysteminonelanguagedifferentfromthatinanotheronlyintermsofthestagesoftheirevolution（区别一种语言和另一种语言的基本颜色系统的只是它们进化的阶段不同，而没有什么思维方式的本质差异）。

.Eg.InP230:

figure1:

thesixEvolutionaryStagesoBasicColorWords.

Therefore,thespeakersfromthisculturecansuccessfullyexpressanycolorslabeledbydistinctcolorwordsinanotherculture.Theforceoflinguisticrelativityishencegreatlyreducedifwealsotakeintoourconsiderationtheissueoflanguageuse.（来自一种文化的说话者可以成功地表达另一种文化中用不同的颜色词标记的任何一种颜色。

如果我们还考虑到语言使用的问题，语言相对主义的力量也就会大大减弱了）。

⏹西方人心目中，白色象征着快乐，欢娱，纯洁无瑕。

故此西方人婚服婚纱皆为白色，如,whitewedding，whiteday。

⏹同时白色还代表其他意思，例如，whitewar，whitemoney，whiteelephant，whitelie，Hehaswhitehands，whitenight。

⏹红色传递着血腥、暴力、躁动、狂热贬义。

红色还指“负债”“亏损”，redfigure,intothered，redbalance。

英语中red的不一定都指“红”redwine,redruin,redbattle,redsky,seered,red-handed。

⏹英美人常将黄色与懦弱、卑怯联系起来。

如yellowdog,Heistooyellowtostandupandfight.yellowlooks,yellowJournal黄色报刊（追求低级趣味耸人听闻的报刊）。

⏹英语中green常用于表示“嫉妒”“新鲜”或没经验。

如，greeneyed,greenmeat,agreenhand。

green还用于财经领域，greenback，greenpower，greenstamp,greenpound。

⏹Blue常与悲伤,忧郁联在一起,例如，blueMonday,inabluemood,Blues。

blue还常表示地位高，有权势，出身贵族，例如，Heisarealblueboy.（他是真正的贵族）。

Bluebook蓝皮书（罗列显贵尤指政府要人名字的书）。

2.3casestudy

Manyexamplescanbefoundtoillustratetheinterplayoflanguageandculture.Forexample,acrossculturalstudyofthemeaningofsomeidiomsormetaphoricalusesinaculturalcontextwillprovidesomeopportunitytoexaminetheissue.ItmaypartiallyexplainwhyNidatatesthatwordsaresometimes“idiomatically-governed”and“cultural–specific”whensummarizingsomeintrinsicfeaturesofvocabularyinrelationtosemantic,translatingandculturalstudies.

Thentheauthormadesomeexamples,togetyourhandsdirty:

Youarepracticingsomethingoryouareengagedindoingsomething

tohaveenoughdumbbells:

therehavebeenalotofstupidguysinmyoffice.

⏹奈达（Nida）曾指出文化对词义，习语含义的影响如此普遍，以至于不考虑文化背景的情况下，很难对文本进行充分理解（Theroleoflanguagewithinacultureandtheinfluenceofthecultureonthemeaningsofthewordsandidiomsaresopervasivethatscarelyanytextcanbeadequatelyunderstoodwithoutcarefulconsiderationofitsculturalbackground.）（1999:

i）。

⏹习语就广义而论，包括英语中的idioms,setphrases,colloquialism,proverbs,cliché,slang等

⏹Defintionoftheidiom:

⏹Anidiomisanexpressionintheusageofalanguageth